See whether the TV cameras give you a full-face shot of the opposing point guard in the fourth quarter tonight, and take a good look at the guy's eyes. We've seen it twice so far - from Mo Williams and Mike Bibby - but it is unmistakable: It's a look that says, "When the hell is this guy going to wind down?"

And, "Has time run out yet?"

That's what Devin Harris is doing to these opposing point guards (at home, anyway), no matter how well they prepared for the game, how their team is playing, or any of the other circumstances that may influence their otherwise contented lives.

It's simple. They want no part of the kid. It's as if they know they've been cast as the Coyote to his Roadrunner, and there's not a damn thing they can do about it.

"The thing about him is, No. 1, his quickness is extraordinary," Rod Thorn says. "And then, combine that with the fact that he can get anywhere he wants to with the ball. That makes him very, very difficult to keep up with. He's as hard as anyone to cover right now."

And then, there's the element of surprise: Harris seems to be showing us something different every single time he suits up. The toughness to go 41 minutes on a bad ankle? Never expected that.

So what's the ceiling for Mr. Whoosh?

"What he needs to do is become a better mid-range shooter," Thorn says. "And if he does, we're talking about a huge upside. You don't often say that about a guy who is already (four years) into his career."

Curly's back tonight. But if he plays more than five minutes against the likes of K-Mart and Linas, you've got a scoop.

Vince has scored 20 or more in his last three games. The last time he did that? Back in December, when he did it five times in a row. And if his legs feel as fresh as they seem to be to us outsiders, he should start ringing up consecutive 30's pretty soon.

But that's only part of it, of course.

"That was one of the best games I've seen him play," RJ said this a.m., "because of the importance of the game, how he did everything. He did it on the defensive end -- slowed down Joe Johnson also. Scored 40 points, passed the ball, rebounded. He had one of the more complete games I've ever seen him have -- dominating on one end and also doing a great job on the defensive end. So if we continue to get performances like that from him, him helping the younger guys just to show them how important these games are, it's going to help us."

Rod has waded into the LF-Marcus bog, and we found this odd: He didn't seem too eager to take a side.

For example, ask him if he was surprised his coach benched Marcus for the first half against Atlanta, and you get a long pause and some homina-homina-homina instead of unconditional support for L-Frank's decision.

Flip side: As for the kid's contention that the minutes still aren't what they should be, that was an invitation for a quick slap-down.

"Since we've made the trade, he's averaged over half the game," Thorn asserted. "His playing time has increased significantly since the trade. So that's not the right argument for him to make -- he's played a lot more. And, in fact, he's played more with Devin. He's almost playing starter's minutes. It's up to Marcus to make the most of them."

As for that other point guard: We've seen J-Kidd's last four games, and it comes down to one thing - familiarity, or lack thereof. When you're unsure, you hesitate. When you hesitate, you look slow. When you look slow, you look old. And an old-looking Jason Kidd is about as unimpressive as any other 35-year-old point guard. There's still time to get his act together.

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In memory of the great Clarence Leonidas Fender, who died 17 years ago today, and belated Happy St. Pat's day to the greatest of them all.